UCF players, coach differ over death

SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE

UCF football player Ereck Plancher showed signs of distress during an intense workout last month before he collapsed and later died, four of Plancher's teammates told the Orlando Sentinel.

Plancher, a 19-year-old receiver from Naples, was taken to a hospital March 18 and was pronounced dead about an hour after the workout, known as a "mat drill."

A preliminary autopsy was inconclusive. Further tests are under way to determine the cause of Plancher's death.

The UCF players, who asked for anonymity because they fear retribution from football coaches, said Plancher's final practice was more intense than the basic-conditioning workout described by UCF officials.

In an interview with the Sentinel, UCF coach George O'Leary and his football staff disputed the four players' account of Plancher's final practice.

"I did not see him struggle on the field," O'Leary said of the morning Plancher died. "From my professional opinion, what should have been done for his care was being done."

The players said they decided to talk to Sentinel reporters because they were upset about the school's portrayal of a "10-minute, 26-second" workout that included a "weights component" described by UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble in a news conference the afternoon of Plancher's death. UCF Executive Associate Athletic Director David Chambers a week later clarified Tribble's statement, saying the workout lasted about 20 minutes. UCF spokesman Grant Heston said Thursday that officials were relaying what they thought was accurate information.

"We were acting on the best information we had available in the hours immediately after Ereck's death," Heston said. "Subsequently, we learned that the workout was lengthier than we originally believed."

Players said the March 18 workout included:

*Multiple agility work stations that lasted five minutes each.

*Two runs on a 200-yard obstacle course.

*Two timed sprints from sideline to sideline.

They said those drills, conducted in the Knights' indoor fieldhouse, came after players lifted weights for an hour, also a supervised activity.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said. ". . . But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

The four players said Plancher fell during the final sprint and members of the UCF coaching staff yelled at him to finish the drill.

"Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last," one player said.

O'Leary said he didn't see Plancher fall but did see him get up during one of the two runs.

Offensive coordinator Tim Salem said he saw no signs that Plancher was having problems during the workout.

"When he was coming through my station, he actually was passing people. He was not struggling at that time. He was working harder than other kids."

After the workout, the team huddled in the middle of the field, where O'Leary singled out Plancher and cursed at him for lack of effort during the final sprint, the four players said.

All four players recall that O'Leary said to Plancher, "That's a bunch of [expletive] out of you, son," in the huddle. O'Leary denied cursing at Plancher but recalled telling people around him, "He's better than that."

"Ereck was in the back when O'Leary was yelling at him, but Ereck couldn't even look at him," one of the players said. "He was trying to catch his breath the whole time, and he never could."

Plancher was noticeably woozy and staggering as he tried to participate in the final jumping-jacks drill, the players said. The team finished those exercises, then huddled one final time. Plancher collapsed while walking away from the huddle, the players said.

Salem confirmed that the post-weightlifting workout involved mat drills, a series of strenuous agility drills that are considered to be among the most difficult football conditioning drills.

The four players interviewed by the Sentinel said several players vomited during the workout.

"It wasn't just Ereck that was hurting. It was six or seven other people," one of the players said.

The players said they did not see Plancher vomit. O'Leary said he only saw one player vomit, and that player "throws up all the time."

O'Leary reiterated his March 20 comment that the workout was not taxing.

"I always look at the kids, at their sweat," he said. "They had little rings of sweat around their neck and a little under their armpits. That's how I just know whether it was a taxing workout."

One of the four players who spoke with the Sentinel, a veteran, disagreed, saying: "It was the toughest workout since I've been here. It definitely was not a light workout."